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Eight Million Ways to Happiness

Eight Million Ways to Happiness cover

Eight Million Ways to Happiness

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Description

Everyone's in the pursuit of happiness, but few know how to attain it. Millions around the world have turned to Japan for advice on finding their Ikigai, or summoning The Courage to Be Disliked. Japan's spiritual traditions hide in plain sight, forming the basis of so much of what we love about the country's culture. Without Japan's spiritual sustenance, Jiro wouldn't dream of sushi; Hayao Miyazaki's films wouldn't spirit us away; and Marie Kondo wouldn't spark joy.

In Eight Million Ways to Happiness, Hiroko Yoda offers the culmination of her decade-long odyssey into the spiritual heart of her homeland. Readers follow Hiroko as she trains as a Shinto shrine-dancer, partakes in Buddhist funeral rituals, ascends holy mountains with Shugendo ascetics, and meets one of Japan's last living itako, a traditional mystic. Her stories – personal, cultural, and historical – are packed with life lessons for all.

Hiroko awakens readers to the idea of a traditional spiritual flexibility that seamlessly coexists with the modern secular world, fortifying us through life's inevitable ups and downs. We are all subject to forces beyond our control, but we are also part of a bigger natural system that can strengthen us – if we learn how to reconnect with it.

Product details

Published 01 Jan 2026
Format Hardback
Edition 1st
Extent 320
ISBN 9781526672162
Imprint Bloomsbury Tonic
Dimensions 216 x 135 mm
Publisher Bloomsbury Publishing

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Environment: Photon QA